Plainfield BB gun scare puts schools in lock down

Two local schools were put on lock down for a brief time Tuesday morning as police and school officials worked to locate a student who was seen at a Moosup school bus stop with a pellet or BB gun.

By DON BOND

The Bulletin

By DON BOND

Posted Dec. 19, 2012 at 12:01 AM
Updated Dec 19, 2012 at 7:01 PM

By DON BOND

Posted Dec. 19, 2012 at 12:01 AM
Updated Dec 19, 2012 at 7:01 PM

PLAINFIELD

Two local schools were put on lock down for a brief time Tuesday morning as police and school officials worked to locate a student who was seen at a Moosup school bus stop with a pellet or BB gun.

Police Chief Michael Surprenant said the 13-year-old, whose identity was not made public because of his age, “at no time made any threats toward other students or faculty and did not attempt to bring the gun to school.”

Superintendent of Schools Kenneth DePietro said protocols the school district has put in place to deal with threats to the safety of students or faculty proved very effective even though the incident did not represent a threat.

“We can report to parents that there was no threat to children at any time and that our administrators and teachers and the police did what they needed to do to resolve the situation without unduly alarming any of the young students affected by the situation,” he said.

DePietro said as soon as police determined the youth — whose age and school grade was not known initially — had boarded a bus bound for the Plainfield Central School — Plainfield Memorial School complex on Canterbury Road, both schools were immediately put into lock down.

As administrators interviewed students on the bus to identify the youngster seen with the gun, teachers began to search lockers and other items to try to find a weapon.

Police said the youngster never took the gun to school. He told police he brought it to the bus stop to show the gun to a friend, Surprenant said.

Police, who were notified of the incident at 7:50 a.m., said the adult who spotted the boy with the gun, confronted him at the bus stop.

“The boy ran off and appeared to have discarded the gun,” Surprenant said. “We thought he might have tossed it in some bushes, but we searched the area without finding anything.”

It turned out the boy had run home and tossed the gun on his porch. His father saw the gun on the porch and brought it inside.

Once the youngster was identified, the lock downs were lifted at both schools, DePietro said.

Surprenant said the boy’s parents were contacted and the boy was issued a summons to Juvenile Court in Willimantic on a charge of second-degree breach of peace.

“Any time you have something like the Newtown tragedy, it’s prudent to look at your own procedures, not so much to make major changes, but to see if they can be tweaked to see if they can make our students and their school buildings even safer,” he said.